Friday, August 31, 2007

Slate V has been posting short videos where audience reaction is charted over what they are viewing (see the squiggly lines in the image of Vick's apology). Another Slate video "reports" reaction to Hillary Clinton's first ad. The surveys were done by MediaCurves. Survey info is given at the start of the videos. For the "ad," 450 people were monitored. Enough to generalize? Probably not...

Wael Abbas' Misrdigital, which he refers to as a weekly e-newspaper, was recognized for its hard-hitting journalistic style.

Dubai: Whether people realise its influence or not, acknowledge it or not, internet has not only became a vital instrument in communication, but also a field of competition for journalists in 'traditional' media outlets. ...

Last Friday, Abbas, a blogger, received an e-mail message notifying him of being the first blogger ever winning an award for the blog he began in mid- 2004.

Abbas was named, along with a Myanmarese investigative reporter, as the 2007 Knight International Journalism Award winners - an award which recognises individuals who have raised the standards of media excellence in their countries. ... -- Gulfnews.com

Thursday, August 30, 2007

If you have any chance to attend this, do. (If you can't read the image, click on it to see it larger.) For a bit more about Gillmor, see his home page. I'd already planned to hand out a reading from "We the Media" in class, but I'll move it forward so you can have it before he arrives.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The other night we discussed how internet is changing how society gets its news and interprets events. In fact, most discussions in today's communication classes focus on how online media is reshaping the industry. That's why when I heard about Google being accused of being sexist, I had to check it out. This story surfaced a couple of months ago, so it may be old news to some of you. However, I hadn't read Google's official response. Basically, the story goes that if you type "she invents" into Google's search engine, Google suggests "he invents" as an alternative. On the other hand, if you type in "she cooks" it does not suggest a male alternative. According to Google, the suggestions are based on "spell-checking algorithms which use cues from from user input" (Nick Denton, Valleywag.com). As Denton so appropriately states in his online post, "It's the world that's sexist; we just index it."

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Isn't news wonderful? With perfect timing with regard to last night's discussion, a story is out about unintended effects of the OG video. It's not going down so well with the candidate's family. His daughter asks, doesn't Daddy already have a wife?

I'm looking forward to Cronkbyte reigniting with the start of a new grad class. Alums and guests are most welcome to continue their contributions as well. If last night's lively and rich discussion of how Internet video is changing the political environment is any guide, we're in for a rewarding 16 weeks.As promised, here are the links to videos we watched and talked about:

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